New to hobby, need help

[Doug1775]

Thank you for reading. I have some basic experience making hard cider, ginger beer, and fruit wine, and recently decided to move into distilling. I may have jumped in too soon, or I may just need to correct a few things. Looking for experienced input on several specific issues.

Background — the wash:
Cracked corn from a feed store rather than flaked maize — relevant because conversion was poor. 1.5 lbs crushed 2-row malted barley, DADY distiller's yeast. Started at 1.040 OG after conversion, added approximately 3 lbs of plain cane sugar to bring OG to 1.070 on the full 4 gallon diluted volume. Cook method was a brief flash cook to 165°F rather than an overnight soak and long slow cook — likely contributed to incomplete starch conversion.

Water source is gravity filtered soft water with essentially no mineral content and no natural buffering capacity. I believe this amplified the pH crash significantly — I'm in eastern Kentucky which historically has hard limestone water, but my filtered water has none of that natural buffering.

Issue 1 — Fermentation vessel seal:
Two back to back batches in food safe plastic buckets with drilled airlocks have failed to seal at the lid. CO2 is venting around the lid perimeter rather than through the airlock. This creates two problems — I can't monitor fermentation progress by airlock activity, and every time I open the bucket to check gravity I risk contamination. Should I abandon plastic buckets entirely in favor of glass carboys with rubber stoppers? It seems like the only permanent solution. Is there a reliable bucket fix I'm missing or is the carboy the universal answer here?

Issue 2 — Fermentation problems:
The first wash developed a Kahm yeast infection on the surface, likely from oxygen exposure due to the failed lid seal. More critically the fermentation stalled at approximately 1.020 FG — estimated 6.5% ABV — well short of target. After research I discovered the pH had crashed to 2.97, apparently from CO2 production during fermentation driving the pH down in a sugar-heavy wash with no natural buffering capacity. Soft water with no minerals made this worse.

I corrected with potassium bicarbonate, attempted a yeast restart with a fresh DADY starter, and got partial recovery but never finished the fermentation fully. The Kahm proved impossible to eliminate — it regrew within 24 hours of skimming every time.

For future batches I have ordered crushed oyster shell as a passive pH buffer and plan to check pH at pitching, 12 hours, day 3, and day 7 with potassium bicarbonate correction as needed. Is this the correct approach for a corn mash with significant sugar addition? Is there a better buffering method for soft water fermentations specifically?

Also — does Kahm yeast in the wash affect the distillate character significantly? See Issue 3 for why I ask.

Issue 3 — The distillation run:
Running the VEVOR 5 gallon pot still with thumper keg. Strained approximately 3.5 gallons of 6.5% ABV wash into the boiler — approximately half capacity, which I now understand significantly reduces yield and efficiency per run.

After discarding 150ml foreshots the distillate came off immediately at 100 proof and dropped steadily — 80 proof then down to 60 proof where I ended the run. Total usable collection at 100 proof was approximately one pint. The lower proof cuts showed no meaningful flavor differentiation from the hearts — no wet dog sulfur, no oily tails character, no obvious cut transitions at all. Everything was extremely neutral throughout. Is the lack of cut differentiation normal on a compromised Kahm-affected wash, or is this a still configuration issue? Is neutrality expected on a first run with significant sugar addition?

The VEVOR thermometer issue:
The built-in thermometer fogged internally — either from steam infiltration which suggests a manufacturing defect, or possibly from disturbing the calibration adjustment nut during assembly. Either way it was unreliable. My fix was to run by visual output — heat the boiler until a small steady trickle appeared at the condenser, then maintain that flow rate by adjusting the propane flame. This worked but I'd like a reliable thermometer recommendation from experienced VEVOR users, or confirmation that running by visual trickle and proof hydrometer is the accepted method anyway.

Summary of planned improvements for batch two:

Overnight corn soak, long slow cook to full softness before conversion rest
Oyster shells as passive pH buffer from day one
pH check at pitching targeting 5.5, recheck at 12 hours, day 3, day 7
Yeast energizer alongside yeast nutrient
Full boiler load — 3+ gallons rather than half capacity
Glass carboy replacing plastic bucket if the community confirms that's the right move
Sour mash from batch two backset into batch three

Any advice, corrections to my planned approach, or mentorship appreciated. Committed to learning this correctly.

[Yummyrum]

Welcome to the forum Doug

Whoo , you do have some questions .
We don’t allow questions in the welcome area so can you please repost them in the Novice section .

You’ll get all the help you need there .

[Doug1775]

ok, thanks. it's not as easy as it sounds and looks. You'd think if a bunch of guys in the woods could do this during prohibition it would be simple.

[BlackStrap]

Welcome Doug1775
Good 2 have U on board.
Cheers!